Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-10-06
ALLAN QUARTERNAIN.
OR
A BROWNING CITY
CHAPTER X.-THE ROSE OF FIRE.


had been, and concluded that this must be
because there was more room for the echoes
to disperse in. / could now hear AL
phonse's bowls much more distinctly; they
were made up of the oldest mixture of in
vacations to the Supreme Power, and the
name of his beloved Annette, that it is
possible to conceive, (Sir Henry afterwards
wrote down one of Alphonse's prayers as
he overheard it. 1t ran thus: 'Oh save
me- Take me out of this holel | will
promise never to go exploring againi oh,
Annette, why did [ leave thee? Oh, my
false cousini On, deliver me from this
horrible main drain! Never mind the 9th
ersl Let them drown, they are more used
to it than am, and they cannot cook Oh,
Annette! Annette [crescendO]l Annette
GOTtiSSinOlpo, and, in snort, though their
evident earnestness saved them from pro-
family WERE to say the least, very remark
able. Taking up paddle | managed to
urIye 1t into his ribs, wherein he, thinking
chat the end had come, howled louder than
ever. Then / slowly and cautiously raised
myself on my knees and stretched my
hand upwards, but could touch no roof
Next | took the paddle and lifted it above
my head as high as | could, but with the
same result | also thrust it out laterally
to the right and left, but could touch moth
ing except water. Then / bethought me
that there was in the boat, amongst our
other remaining possessions, q bull's-eye
lantern with its tin of oil. Igrouped about
and found it, and having a match ON me-
carefully lit it and as soon as the fame
had got hold of the wick I turned the
light on down the boat. AS it happened
the first thing the light shone on was the
white and scared face of Alphonse, who
thinking that it was all over at last, and
that he was witnessing q preliminary
celestial phenomenon, gave terrific yell
and was with difficulty treasured with the
paddle AS for the other three, Good was
lying on the flat of his back, his eye-glass
still fixed in his eye, and gazing blankly
into the upper darkness; Sir Henry had
his head resting on the thwarts of the
canoe, and with his hand was trying to
best the speed of the water but when the
beam of light fell upon old Umslopogaas I
could really have laughed think [ have
said that we had put roast quarter of
waterbuck into the canoe Well, it so
happened that when we ali Frustrated our
selves to avoid being swept out of the boat
and into the water by the rock roof, UNI
slopogaas' head had come down uncom-
Tnoply near this roast buck; and SO soon as
he had recovered little from the first
shock of our position, it occurred to him
that he was hungry. Thereupon he coolly
cut off a chop with Inkosikaasi, and was
now employed in eating it with every ap-
pearance of satisfaction. AS he afterward
explained, he thought that he was going
ION q long Journey and preferred to start
on full stomach. 1t reminded me Of the
people who are going to be hanged, and
who are generally reported, in the English
daily papers, 10 have made can excellent
breakfast"
AS soon as the others saw that had
managed to light up the lamp, we bundled
Alphonse into the farther end of the canoe,
with threat, which Gained him wonder
fully, that if he would insist upon making
the darkness hideous with his cries, we
would put him out of suspense by sending
him to join the Wakwafi, and wait for
Annette in another sphere: and then be-
gan to discuss the situation as we'll as we
could. First, however, at Goods sugges-
ton, we bound two paddles mast-fashion,
in the bow, SO that they might give us
warning against any sudden lowering of
the roof of the cave or waterway. 1t was
clear to us that we were in an underground
river, or, as Alphonse had defined it, 'main
DRAIN" which carried off the superfiuoas
waters of the lake. Such rivers are we'll
known to exist in many parts of the world;
but it has not often been the evil fortune
of explorers to travel by them. That the
river was wide we could clearly see, for
the light from the bull's-eye lantern failed
to reach from shore to shore; although oc
casionally, when the current swept us
either to one side or the other, we could
see the rock-wall of the tunnel, which, as
far as we could make out, appeared to arch
about twenty-five feet above our heads
AS for the current itself, it ran Good esti-
mated, at least eight knots, and, FORUM
: ately for us, was, as is usual, fercest in
the middle of the stream. Still, our first
act was to arrange that one of us, with the
lantern and pole there was in the canoe,
should always be in the bow, ready if pos
-sible, to prevent us from being stove in
against the side of the cave or any project
ing rock. Umslopogaas, having already
dined, took the first turn. This was abso-
lutely, with one exception, all that we
could do towards preserving our safety.
The exception was that another of us took
up position in the stern with a paddle, by
means of which it was possible to more or
less steer the canoe and keep her from the
sides of the cave These matters attended
to, we made a somewhat sparing meal off
the cold buck's-meat for we did not know
how long it might have to last us), and
then, feeling in rather better spirits, gave
my opinion, that, serious as it undoubtedly
was, [ did not consider our position alto
gether without hope, unless, indeed, the
natives were right, and the river plunged
straight down into the bowels of the earth.
If not, it was clear that it must emerge
somewhere, probably on the other side Of
the mountains and in that case all we had
to think of was to keep ourselves alive till
we got there, wherever there" might be.
But of course, as Good lugubriously point
ed out, on the other hand we might fall
victims to hundred unsupported horrors
or the river might go winding away in
side the earth till it dried up, in which
case our fate would indeed be an awful one.
''Well, lest us hope for the best and pre-
pare ourselves for the worst" said Sir
Henry, who is always cheerful and even
spirited-a very tower of strength in time
of trouble. 1--WE have come out of so many
puaar SorapaS topnthpr that somehow al